Aston Villa Academy: Tim Iroegbunam is built for Premier League football
Aston Villa academy prospect Tim Iroegbunam is proving he is a Premier League footballer in the making after continuing to thrive out on loan at QPR this season.
Bodymoor Heath has been a breeding ground for some of the country’s brightest talents in recent years, but few have been as highly touted as the 19-year-old.
A combative but equally mobile midfielder, Iroegbunam is a classy operator who seems to play the game with an experience beyond his years. The starlet announced himself to Villa fans under Steven Gerrard, who took a liking to the midfielder and awarded him his first start in the 2-0 win over Norwich City last April.
In the summer, Gerrard decided a loan move to work under his former partner in crime Michael Beale was best for the youngster’s development, with QPR snapping him up on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day.
Since his loan move, the Villa ace has been an ever-present in both Beale’s and, more recently, Neil Critchley’s starting XIs, making 17 Championship appearances so far this season.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, The Athletic’s journalist Dan Bardell gushed over Iroegbunam and his rapid rise through the ranks at Bodymoor Heath.
He said: “He’s built for Premier League football.
“He’s got an incredible stature for somebody his age and an incredible physicality. I think Villa are a slightly weak team in many ways, there’s not much size in the Aston Villa side, and they’ve been crying out for somebody like him.
“I did some media work a little while ago, and Chris Brunt was in the media room with me, and Tim Iroegbunam was somebody he had coached at West Brom, and he waxed lyrical about him, saying he will go on to become a Premier League player no doubt.
“I like that he is playing at QPR, who try and play progressive football and try and develop players in their first-team, so I think so far that can be chalked down as a success.“
Christian Purslow will be adamant he doesn’t lose another of the club’s brightest gems after Carney Chukwuemeka turned down a long-term contract and sealed a blockbuster £20 million move to Chelsea in the summer.
The refusal to loan Chukwuemeka to a Championship club came back to bite Villa, and hopefully, the club’s hierarchy have learned from their mistakes.
It is likely that some of the Premier League’s big guns will come sniffing for Iroegbunam in the near future, and Villa must do their best to keep the former West Brom youth player away from their clutches.
The QPR loanee has the talent to be the future of Aston Villa’s midfield and must be held onto at all costs.
In other Aston Villa news, Rachel Daly should be played as centre-forward for the Lionesses in 2023 after her stunning campaign in the West Midlands.